That explains it

A few months ago I wondered aloud: Who the fuck is Lindsay Lohan? Why is she suddenly so popular? And whose idea was it to put her in a recording studio?

The Malcontent tries to leave no question unanswered, and now we know why we all know this former teen queen turned megastar:

Take Lindsay Lohan. The teen actress was turned into a singer by Tommy Mottola, who made an interesting deal at Universal to start a label just for her.

Mottola also managed Lohan, which no one questioned, and he claimed that UMG had put up $50 million to get the ball rolling.

But Lohan is no singer, and no one, not even her movie fans, wanted her albums or to hear her on the radio.

Nevertheless, the record company persisted. A series of e-mails in June 2005 shows what was happening — a manipulation of MTV’s "Total Request Live" show that airs every afternoon and can seriously affect a new record’s fortunes.

UMG, according to Spitzer’s reports, was spending money at radio stations and for "TRL" to "stuff the ballot box" (my words) and turn losers into winners.

The memo series is all about one subject: "We are hiring a request company starting Monday to jack TRL for Lindsay…Guys this is a no win situation how should I respond...there is no airplay we have been pursuing…"

Seems Puff Daddy was also involved in this brewing payola scandal. Score one for our old pal Suge Knight.